Level or straight-edge structures



April 17 1962 Filed May 21, 1958 P. P. VAIDA ETAL LEVEL OR STRAIGHT-EDGE STRUCTURES 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 17, 1962 P. P. VAIDA ETAL LEVEL 0R STRAIGHT-EDGE STRUCTURES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 21, 1958 nite The present invention relates to levels or straight-edges and is particularly concerned with the structure of the main body or frame thereof which as a level carries the bubble vials.

A general object of the present invention is to provide the main body or frame of an unusually strong reinforced level or straight-edge structure which will not warp, thereby assuring accuracy in use, while attaining advantanges of metal bound wood frame styles as to resistance to wear of edges and marring of working faces in superior fashion While satisfying customers wanting the characteristics of wooden frames.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide the main body or frame of such levels or straigh-edges in a form employing both a metal structural element and wood elements so fashioned and connected together as to give the appearance of a metal bound wood frame which has the desirable feel of the warmth of wood while obtaining its other desirable and superior qualities from the metal structural element to which the wood elements are fastened in unique concealing manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide the frame of such devices in the form of a metal I-beam section in side face channels of which opposite side facings of wood are efficiently anchored permanently together by through connections of wood-to-wood in a plurality of localities where areas of the I-beam web are removed for this and other advantageou purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structural embodiment of the invention which is readily produced economically in mass production and which allows efiicient use and effective employment thereof throughout an unusually long service life.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims. 7

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

PEG. 1 is a side perspective view to reduced scale of an embodiment of a level of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a plumb unit employed in the level construction of FIG. 1 including a pair of vials supported in an oval shock-absorbing vial holder;

FlG. 3 is an enlarged side View of a level unit employed in the level construction of FIG. 1 including a pair of vials supported in another shock-absorbing oval holder;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged full scale sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side perspective view to about half scale of a section of the main body or frame of the level depicted in FIGS. 1 and 4 with one of the pair of wood side facings omitted and illustrating certain steps in the manufacture thereof;

FIG. 6 is an opposite side perspective view of a section similar to that shown in FIG. 5 with the opposite wood side facing applied and portions of the latter broken away to show transverse through connection construction;

FIG. 7 is a full scale transverse sectional view taken substantially on line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a full scale transverse sectional view taken substantially on line 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is an exploded sectional view of the parts seen in section when a'transverse section is taken substantially on line 99 of the FIG. 6 structure after completion of the frame; and

FIG. 10 is a full scale end view of the embodiment of the level illustrated in the drawings.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that the embodiment of the level of the present invention therein illustrated at 11, by way of example, has a metallic I- beam element 12, side facings or strips of wood 13, 13, end plates 14, 14 of suitable material, such as metal, a pair of plumb units 15, 15 and a level unit 16.

Although the structure of the vial units 15 and 16 which carry the plumb and level vials, illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, do not constitute a part of the present invention, a brief explanation thereof is deemed helpful to an understanding of the features of the invention. As

shown in FIG. 2, plumb unit 15 may comprise an oval,-

shock-absorbing band 17 of suitable material, such as plastic composition, with opposite sides 18, 18 provided with through holes surrounded by internal flanges 19- 1?. A bubble vial 20 of conventional construction which preferably is formed of clear Pyrex glass has its opposite ends extended through a pair of the aligned holes which are surrounded by opposed flanges 19, 19, and a pair of such vials are provided as shown arranged in oppositely curved relation as is usual. The level unit 16 of FIG. 3, similarly comprising an oval band of plastic material 117, has its opposed curved ends 21, 21 provided with paired through holes each surrounded by a suitable flange 22 with each pair of the paired flanges serving to support the ends of a level vial 126, and with the paired vials 126 also arranged in opposed relation as is conventional.

. By reference to FIG. 4, it will be seen that in the locality of one of the plumb units 15, web 23 of the I- beam section 12 and adjacent areas of the inner or back faces of the wood side facings 13, 13 are cut away together to provide a socket 24 in which is loosely located plumb unit 15 without contact at any points between it and the vials 20, Ed on the one hand and the Ii-beam web 23 and wood facings 13, 13 on the other hand. Such plumb unit 15 is anchored in position in socket 24 by a body 25 of plaster, or other suitable bonding material, and the sides thereof are covered by oval transparent face plates 26, 26 which may be of plastic or glass, these face plates being set against opposite side edges of the band 17. After floating mount of the plumb unit 15 in the mass of plaster 25 located in the socket 24 and abutment of the face plates 26, 26 to the side edges thereof, the

edge joints are suitably trimmed oil by plaster filler at 27, g

3 27. The level unit 16 of FIG. 3 will be mounted in a similar manner in a medial socket of the frame.

As will be understood from FIGS. 4 to 9 incl., the main body or frame of the body of the level of the present invention, illustrated by way of example in the drawings, has its I-beam section 12 provided with a perforate web structure. The I-beam section 12 may be of extruded aluminum with the web 23 provided with integral flanges 28, 28 which form the edge faces of the level. The web 23 is provided with a series of longitudinally-spaced oval openings 29-23, each of which in the illustrated embodiment may be about two and one-half inches long with the opposed ends of these oval openings spaced a distance of about an inch.

At the place where one of the plumb units is to be mounted opposed side edges of the oval opening in the web 23 are notched back at 30, 30 to cooperate in the formation of the socket 24, as will be understood from FIGS. 4 to 7 incl. Each of the wood side facings 13 is provided at such locality with a smaller oval hole 31 rabbetted along its curved ends to provide a pair of opposed, semicircular shoulders 32, 32 against which the face plate 26 seats. The back faces of the wood strips or facings 13, 13 are recessed in alignment with the web notches 30, 39 together to form socket 24. Side notches 30, 30 in the web opening 29 and the recessing of the back faces of the wood facings 13, 13 in alignment with such side notches are not necessary for the mounting of the level unit 16 of FIG. 3, but it will be understood that the oval hole 31 in each of wood facings 13 at this locality is larger than the outside dimension of the vial holder 117 so that there will be free floating mount of the level unit thereat supported only by the body of plaster.

At another locality, preferably near one end of the level 11, one of the oval openings 29 in the web 23 is used in the formation of a through hole which may serve as the hanging hole for the level. As will be seen in FIGS. 5, 6 and 9, the wood facings 13, 13 there are provided with aligned holes 33, 33 in which may, if desired, be mounted a metallic sleeve 34.

It will be understood from FIGS. 6, 8 and 9 that at the locations of all oval holes 2929 in the web 23 except where the two plumb units 15, 15 and the leveled unit 16 are mounted, a transverse through wood-to-wood concealed connection or bond is effected between the wood facings 13, 13. For this purpose a thin block or strip of wood 35 is mounted in the oval hole 29 between the back faces of the wood facings 13, 13 and face areas thereof, such as that indicated at 36 in FIG. 6, are provided with suitable smears of cement which adhesively fasten the juxtaposed faces of the block 35 to the back faces of the wood facings 13, 13. As a result, the wood facings 13, 13 are securely cemented together periodically along the frame of the level by wood-to-wood through connections or bonds which mount them in the I-beam channels 37, 37 more permanently and stronger than by bonding cement located between the channel faces and the back and edge faces of the wood facings 13, 13. However, it may be preferred to use such metal-to-wood cementing in supplement to the wood-to-wood bonding through the web holes as indicated at 38-38 in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. Wood-to-wood cement bonds can be stronger than metal-to-wood cement bonds because of the tendency of the cement in liquid state to soak into the pores of the surfaces of the porous Wood. Mahogany preferably is employed for the wood facings 13, 13 and the interposed tying or bonding blocks 3535, due to the relatively high degree of porosity thereof and the appearance and feel of such Wood, but pine or other woods, and even other suitable material may be employed for this purpose if desired.

It will thus be noted that, while the main body or frame of the level or straight edge of the present invention has the appearance of being chiefly made from wood with edges thereof bound in metal to reduce tendency to mar in service, actually the skeleton thereof is a section of I- beam metal which is non-warping with side faces filled in with wood facings or strips and that the latter are tied transversely together by concealed strong through wood-towood bonds at relatively closely spaced intervals along the web of the section of metal I-beam skeleton or core. The provision of such transverse wood-toavood bonds also facilitates incorporation of desired features, such as the mounting of floating vial holders and the provision of a through hole for the purpose of hanging the level. lt is obvious that it is a simple matter to drill at one of the holes 29 in metal web 23 a hanging hole successively through the three juxtaposed layers of wood consisting of one side wood facing 13, the intervening bonding block 35, and then the other side wood facing 13, without having to drill through the metal web.

The ends of the level are trimmed off by suitable end plates 14, 14 which may be formed of the same metal as is used in the production of the I-beam skeletal core 12, e.g., aluminum. As will be seen from FIG. 10, such end plate 14 may be anchored in position by a plurality of suitable screws 39--39, the threaded shanks of which may extend into the ends of the wood strips or facings 13, 13.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are etficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A level comprising, in combination, a skeletal frame core in the form of a section of metallic I-beam with flanges thereof providing opposite frame edge faces and defining with the web a pair of side channels, said web having a plurality of relatively large longitudinally-spaced through transverse openings, a pair of side facing strips of wood substantially filling the side channels and having front and back faces with edge and back faces of said strips cemented to channel faces, a plurality of bridging wood blocks mounted in the web openings in concealed manner between the back faces of said wood strips with their opposite faces juxtaposed to the back faces of said wood strips, cement bonds connecting said juxtaposed back faces of said wood strips and faces of said bridging blocks in a plurality of longitudinally-spaced transverse wood-to-wood bonds, and level and plumb vial units mounted in some of the web openings exposed to view in aligned openings in said wood strips.

2. A level or straight-edge structure comprising, in combination; an elongated frame core of metallic I-beam form having a vertical web provided with a plurality of relatively large, longitudinally-spaced through transverse openings, and a pair of integral transverse flanges intervened by said web with the outside faces of said flanges serving as the exposed edge faces of said structure, said web and edge flanges defining together on opposite sides of said web a pair of longitudinally-extending U-shaped channels; a pair of elongated strips of wood with one thereof fitted into each of the pair of channels, each wood strip having opposite front and back faces with the back faces of said strips opposed to opposite sides of said web and substantially abutting the same and with the front faces thereof serving as the exposed side faces of said structure; and a plurality of relatively large, flat, wood bridging blocks each separately mounted in one of an appreciable number of the web openings in concealed manner between said back faces of said wood strips with opposite side faces of each block being of appreciable area and substantially abutting said back faces, the abutting side faces of said wood blocks and said back faces of said wood strips being cemented together thereby forming a plurality of through and longitudinally-spaced transverse wood-to-wood bonds.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2 characterized by said structure being a level and the provision therein of a hanging hole formed through one of said Wood-to- Wood bonds.

4. The structure as defined in claim 2 characterized by said structure being a level and the provision therein of plumb and level units mounted in some of the through openings in the core Web.

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 159,685 Kittoe Feb. 9, 1875 179,680 Burkhardt July 11, 1876 591,139 Morton Oct. 5, 1897 1,306,452 White June 10, 1919 2,127,617 Petree Aug. 23, 1938 

